Most of us were not taught the importance of taking care of our mental health growing up. It usually isn’t until we hit a roadblock in our lives or go through a loss of some sort that we begin to dig deeper into what’s going on. Stress is something all of us encounter, but not all of us know how to deal with it properly. It takes a long time to reteach yourself how to manage stress in a more productive way.

If you find yourself to be more academic or career-driven like I am, it’s very easy to push self-care aside. I’ve always seen self-care as something optional, similar to an extracurricular activity. In my last internship, my supervisors would routinely advise me to take breaks and find ways to unwind outside of work. I would add a self-care activity to my to-do list and as soon as I became busy, it would be the first thing I’d cross off (without doing). Sometimes I find myself “on a roll” and I don’t want to stop working because I know how hard it is to regain that momentum. I’ll work non-stop for hours believing that I actually accomplished something when in fact, I lost out on valuable time I could have spent with my family, friends, or self.

These past few years, full of seemingly back-to-back stressors, have taught me that self-care is in fact a requirement for us to function. We cannot be productive without taking care of ourselves first. Sometimes life can be overwhelming, and in those cases, it’s extremely important to stop and breathe. Personally, I enjoy painting to clear my mind. Unfortunately, I haven’t painted in months due to my aforementioned preference for productivity over sanity, but yesterday I picked up a paintbrush and made something.

[This is your sign to make (or do) something too!]